File No. 051 of 446

Frankenstein's creature

Also called: Frankenstein's monster, the Creature

BooksOtherScience gone wrong1500 to 1899

Frankenstein's creature is not a zombie, but histories of the zombie cite Shelley's 1818 novel as a precursor because it treats resurrection as a scientific process. Lovecraft's Herbert West serial was reportedly written as a parody of it. The 1931 film replaced the novel's eloquent creature with a mute one in Jack Pierce's makeup.1 2 3

Battle it

First appeared

1818

Released 1818

Source work

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818)

Mary Shelley

Made in

United Kingdom

What causes it

Science gone wrong

Victor Frankenstein gives life to a body by a scientific method the novel leaves deliberately vague.

How you become one

He is built and animated by a single scientist; there is only one.

Intelligence

Clever

When did it first appear?

Ancient world Middle Ages 1500 to 1899 1900 to 1967 1968 to 1999 2000 to 2009 2010 to today

1818

Released 1818

field notes

What the sources say

In the novel he is articulate and learns to speak and read within about eleven months1 2 3

He is about eight feet tall and is never given a name1 2 3

The 1931 film made him mute and bestial, with an implied criminal brain1 2 3

Jack Pierce designed Boris Karloff's flat-headed makeup1 2 3

The novel's creature eats only acorns and berries1 2 3

The Wikipedia history of the zombie counts the novel as a forerunner because it treats raising the dead as science1 2 3

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from these sources, written in our own words. Spotted a mistake? Tell us at [email protected].

Feed the horde. No ads, no trackers, paid for by one person. A tip keeps it online.Leave a tip